If one thing is for certain, Ryan Martin (aka Secret Boyfriend) is consistent. Through his various recording projects and curation of the Hot Releases imprint – which has hosted anumber offavorites of the Decoder crew’s record stacks – Martin has released charmingly alien and dissonant rhythmic sounds that run the gamut of art and electro pop to hard, pulverizing techno. Hot Releases’ latest edition falls heavily in the latter, rummaging through a veritable scorched earth of bludgeoning sonics and techno modes. Miguel Alvariño, who you may know as one-half of the brains behind the Primitive Languages imprint, surfaced with a cassette on his own label just last year, but now returns with Participation, his vinyl debut. Alvariño’s approach to blown-out and obliterative dance music is fully displayed on “Cess,” the A-side’s closing saga. Cycling around a blipping loop that resembles a contact mic attached to a metal pipe hurtling down a hill, the track writhes in a wave of low-end foreplay, riddled with glimpses of static and creaking feedback. The pain is a an addicting pleasure that you’re bound to slip into again and again. Copies of Participation are available today via Hot Releases’ Bandcamp.

Having already issued his sprawling, esoteric take on folk music on Three Lobed and Strange Attractors Audio House, Chuck Johnson now returns with a stunning tape of guitar-and-analog electronics via Drawing Room Records. The producer, currently based in Oakland, previously assumed the name Pykrete and performed in Idyll Swords, Micro-East Collective, and Shark Quest before venturing out under his given name, apparently unencumbered by any predisposition or expectation of project names or pseudonyms. The sense of freedom is fully highlighted here on CJ-1 with six tracks, split into two 20-minute suites, of deep, shimmering sound. The set opens with “In Fathoms,” a glistening drift of chime- and gong-like sounds blowing in the wind, perfectly perching the narrative for a sudden drop into “Balam,” a darker, more spacious track of transcendental revelry. The track’s wide-open, sauntering pace leaves plenty of room to wade in the open tones and dripping melody. Over an extended period of time, eeried drones and chords cycle through scene, both foiling and complimenting the sinister soiree. The whole story subtly disrupts as Johnson introduces the wayward acoustics of “Wild Geese Descend on Level Sand, heightening the sonic scenery ten-fold. Side Two opens with the creaking tones of “Stoa Poikile,” an aurally ambivalent drift of microtones that plays the direct opposite to “In Fathoms.” “Thorn Filaments” descends into much darker territories, resembling a fit of Doom culled from a table of modular synthesizers. Closer “Tennessee Cove” wraps everything up in a distorted waltz of angelic resonance. Here’s to hoping a CJ-2 materializes very soon. Stream “Balam” below and pick up a copy of CJ-1 directly via Drawing Room‘s site.

#2 – 3.23.3015 – 5cm released a new album of blistering stoner rock by Nostromo entitled Entoropy. The album rides a scuzzy wave of basement rock without wallowing in banality or ho-hum territory. Scope it below and head to the label’s Bandcamp for purchasing options. -BP

#3 – 3.24.3015 – Beau Devereaux issued the latest chapter in Samantha Glass’ alluring narrative. Billed as “a collection of new & old that found a place in my heart after being swept underneath a rug we could call uncertainty,” Entering the Visible Winds of Spring features nine previously unreleased tracks of affected drum machines, synth minimalism and updated sci-goth anthems. As with every other SG release, you’ll get sucked in and addicted before you realize it, so better clear your schedule. Peep the video for “Garden of Instinct” below and head over to the Glass project’s Bandcamp for a digital copy. -BP

#4 – 3.25.2015 – Ad Hoc orchestrated a groovy exchange between producer Daniel Martin-McCormick, aka Ital, who explores the “contemporary classical” background to fellow minimalist producer Rrose’s work in the lead-up to a much bandied-about rendering of James Tenney’s ”Having Never Written a Note for Percussion” at the West Park Presbyterian Church in New York last Thursday. Further Records is currently offering pre-orders of the performance in live and studio versions on their own LP edition, but click through to Ad Hoc to find out more about Rrose for now. -DP

#5 – 3.26.2015 – Beloved Massachusetts-based musician and artist Sam Gas Can recently uploaded a new comic, Robble Robble — starring all of the McDonald’s characters we know and love, it sold out quickly in its physical form, but is now available online for all to enjoy. I’ll take fries with that. -LP

#6 – 3.27.2015 – Marc Masters penned a groovy article for the Washington Post about Italian-born artist and designer Harry Bertoia’s sound sculptures, after visiting the former studio in Pennsylvania where his son Val Bertoia tends and performs with the hodgepodge of resonant, all metal pieces. Called the ‘Sonambient Barn,” tours of the studio are still open to visitors, and if you can’t make the trip to Pennsylvania, you can peruse Masters’ piece at the Post. -DP

#7 – 3.27.2015 – Decoder contributor Anaïs Duplan published an interview with spacey Nigerian synth-conductor Hama, following just a couple months after his incredible Torodi LP for Sahel Sounds; click through to Bandcamp to order the album or click through to Berlin’s No Fear of Pop blog. -DP

#8 – 3.27.2015 – Woolen Men announced a few dates in early April for their upcoming mini tour, in support of their latest 7″ EP, Rain Shapes. Check out the dates below and pre-order a copy of the EP (out March 31 on Loglady Records) if you haven’t already. -LP

#9 – 3.27.2015 – Word started circulating that Captured Tracks would be reissuing Roadkill, an album recorded and self-released in 1982 by the now famous Ben Stiller and a group of high school friends, as Capital Punishment. Ben Stiller played drums. Even more surprising to me than how weird and amazing is the preview track, “Confusion,” is how little has been said of the band’s overarching weirdness. The whole project is a little bit weird circumstantially, obviously. In quotes, Stiller seems staggered that infrastructure exists for this sort of music, but the most surprising part perhaps is that press are putting a bow on Capital Punishment as a “teenage punk band,” when I tell you it doesn’t take much looking to find one of their tracks with what sounds like sitar on it. Art-school psych “punk,” with a slightly glossy coating of snot and a wizard’s staff lent somewhere, ya know? Basically just a nice group of good kids from the neighborhood (hopefully they had fun). Click through to Stereogum to read more than appeared elsewhere about the reissue, including a statement from the band’s former vocalist / frontman Kriss Roebling. -DP

#10 – 3.27.2015 – Ty Segall and King Tuff are releasing a new split live album featuring both of their sets from the 2013 Pickathon festival in Oregon. Live at Pickathon, Vol. #2 comes out May 5 via Easy Sound, and the first volume (featuring Diarrhea Planet and Those Darlins) is out on Record Store Day. You can check out the Ty Segall/King Tuff tracklist and some live videos over here, and pre-order the record right here. -LP

Ryan Martin is an ascetic renaissance man of the noise and post-industrial scene. Not to be confused with the Ryan Martin of Secret Boyfriend and Hot Releases fame, the Ryan Martin of Brooklyn helms an array of creative projects, from manning the impeccable Dais Records imprint with Gibby Miller, operating the exquisite Robert & Leopold imprint on his own, and recording experimental sounds under a number of aliases (Death Houses, Hanel Koeck) and with a number of groups (DeTrop, On A Clear Day, York Factory Complaint), all of which speak to Martin’s unending adoration with addled, haunting sonics. The latest in Martin’s stream of publicly available recordings come with Marble Cage, a new tape under the name Copley Medal on the always fantastic Vitrine imprint, who was recently profiled by FFFoxy Podcast. The cassette, split into two side-long tracks, descends into dark and despicable depths, traipsing through austere aural spaces littered with metallic detritus and ephemeral clatter. “Select Panic,” which you can hear an excerpt of below, comfortably and completely fills the void left when Phaserprone closed up shop, erecting soot-covered walls and blacked-out windows of charred, barely rhythmic noise. On the flip, “Joop” takes thing even deeper, dissolving the anxious serrations of the A-side into an amorphous drone of strained feedback and possessed howls. Through a cloud of static, an indiscernible display of flailing noise writhes in mid-air in a beautifully dissonant display. Marble Cage is out now on Vitrine and available at a few select distributors, including Hanson, Infinite Limits, Art into Life, and Albert’s Basement.

It’s nice to see a drone or ambient artist grow restless. Often perceived as directionless or stagnant, surrounded by tangential genres of artists (more than) dabbling in other fields, the droners seem too slow or meandering in this modern day, ditched and left in the dust of fresh faced producers. Still, the underdogs of bucolic listlessness reign supreme, playing the long-game and drifting along ample planes of tonal bliss. Will Thomas Long pulls from this playbook, penning new chapters as each year ticks by. Last year hosted Zigzag and Sky Limits, both of which found Long’s Celer project turning entirely different leaves, with the former hosting a new-found sense of rhythm and the latter incorporating briefer, haiku-like travelogues. Both albums revealed a refreshing, organic, and bold new side of a heavyweight in the drone field. Celer now returns to its roots with a new work of long-form beauty entitled Jima, featuring two side-long tracks of the project’s signature melancholy. The teaser above samples the opening two minutes of the A-side’s “Distant Misgivings” resembling And Their Refinement of the Decline-era Stars of the Lid but with a heavier sense of minimalism. The narrative loops into a euphoric infinity, perfectly playing the foil to the B-side’s “The Potential of the Unnecessary,” an extended bout of phasing synth chords and smeared ecstasy. As always with Celer, you’ll want to experience the full, album-length audio, so scope the video and head over to I, Absentee‘s site to order a copy or Celer’s Bandcamp to order the digital edition.

San Francisco’s Tiaras released their self-titled album last month on Sacramento boutique punk and garage label Mt. St. Mtn.Tiaras is a shimmering debut, ever-hopeful like much of lead singer Ryan Grubbs’ past work in Ganglians, and marks a turning point for two songwriters aligned since 2008. Tiaras are obliged to face their history. While one member is from Blasted Canyons, another plucked from Fine Steps (technically two), much of the songwriting and vocal autograph is indebted to former Ganglians members Grubbs and guitarist Kyle Hoover. Whether known to Grubbs and Hoover from the onset or purely a coincidental manifestation, the power pop of Tiaras and its kinship to San Francisco’s legendary beacons of the genre Flamin’ Groovies has burned strong since Ganglians. Their debut together is more of an arrival than a rebirth.

The trajectory for Grubbs and Hoover’s songwriting has been angling toward this record. Dig back to Ganglians’ Monster Head Room closer “Try To Understand” and it is the wedge between the psych-struck origin of Ganglians, aping Thee Oh Sees, and predates the Fleetwood-informed pop-sheen of third album Still Living. Ganglians final record had its issues, drag and identity anxiety mostly, but it was the first record that was written as a band rather than fleshed from Grubbs’ demos. It was also a desertion, with the understanding that lo-fi had become a limitation and outworn its worth for them. By Still Living Hoover was unfit to be buried, as his guitarwork offered the textures that turned a quality song into a catch-all pop song. It was never quite power pop in the “I think I’m Twilley” sense, but Hoover was all-in with Grubbs’ cartoonish woo-woos, the finger plucking on the high chords is chirpy. Still Living was a radical departure from the Woodsist records, but the trajectory sustains a steady climb, curving closer to the genesis of Tiaras.

In Ganglians, Grubbs was the vocalist that narrated a quixotic Sacramento lifestyle with a stoned whimsy and inflections reminiscent of Brian Wilson in the thralls of a bad trip. Hoover was by his side, ever-noodling for that complementary lick progression that lilted acoustic mediations like “Crying Smoke” into summertime soundtracks for the down-on-their-luck. Lo-fi as a handicap and aesthetic scuzzed over Hoover’s tonal cache, it was a consequence of the times — the perk of an endorsement from Jeremy Earl of Woods to release their first two records. Leave it unpolished, vaguely psychedelic, and you had a house to play and couch to sleep on in every city in the USA in 2009. In those days Eat Skull routinely ventured down from Portland to live up to its ruined legend, John Dwyer would perform his two-piece drum-only project The Drums in a pizza parlor where members of the band worked, and Mayyors would cause controlled disturbances in the banquet room of a West Sacramento bowling alley. Ganglians absorbed it all.

As mentioned earlier, much of the self-titled record and Monster Head Room were built from Grubb’s bedroom recordings. The chronology holds up in the band’s aged Myspace bio, the three other members were enlisted to be the backing band for a show Grubbs’ booked — I might have been at that show. It was one of the first, either way.

No one can corroborate this anecdote and my guess is the artists would deny memory as well, but Ganglians played one of those first shows at a cramped juice bar called Luna’s Cafe in Sacramento. That much can’t be denied. Being that it was 2008, I found out about it through Myspace. The stage at Luna’s is a platform large enough to fit a drum kit. Behind it wood lattice fencing supports white Christmas lights and ingrown ivy. The rest of the members had chairs surrounding the platform, or planted their butts on vacant corners of the platform. The entire room was seated at tables, the glow from candles lighting faces. What I doubt anyone remembers, but it stuck with me to this day is between songs Grubbs took a moment to thank those that made the night possible, giving Hoover ample time to tune for the next song. Hoover spaced out though. As Grubbs gave the cue for the next song, Hoover requested the set equivalent of a time out. A glare from Grubbs to Hoover yielded momentary tension, from my chair it felt like “don’t blow this for us.” For whatever reason, I’ve always kept that moment with me. Which is why with every passing album, performance, and new project that I saw those two develop, it was as though that moment was the first and last error by Hoover.

Of the well-known songwriting partners — the Morrissey-Marrs, the Fagan-Beckers, the Hook-Sumners — an almost twin-telepathy is at the core of their work. Undisturbed with their tools in a room together, those sessions are often described with transcendental power as two minds attuned to a creative impulse. The mind-meld that happens between writing partners is not serendipitous or incidental or even superhuman. It’s cognitive synchronicity. In a 1990 interview with Guitar Player Johnny Marr describes the neuroscience of songwriting without awareness, “a 50/50 thing between Morrissey and me. We were completely in sync about which way we should go for each record.” At their best the albums are conversational and exploratory, in their worst it’s a Risk board from track to track with each member planting a flag in the sequencing. In the case of Grubbs-Hoover, the closer their work strikes that 50/50 balance the more sinewy the ouput. Developing harmonious brain waves can happen as easily as playing the same tune, but for Grubbs and Hoover the cultivation and even revelation of that phase locking happened with the completion of Tiaras self-titled debut.

To Hoover’s benefit the burial in blown out fuzz in his tenderfoot years gave him room to grow and hone his repertoire. By 2011, he was lick savvy with an arsenal that shone on Still Living’s inverted approach of cleansing the recordings, braving the hi-fi, and enlisting producer Robby Moncrieff (two years post-producing Dirty Projectors’ Bitte Orca). On “Bradley” he’s practically delivered a guitar soliloquy to the albums’ crux-ballad, letting each riff ache and address the compromising tale of loss. Moncrieff calcifies the tension with plenty of studio wizardry, but Hoover is steadfast in his imprint on “Bradley.” It was a turning point when, in the wake of Ganglians’ indefinite hiatus in 2011, Hoover allocated his talents in the interim to Fine Steps for the unjustly ignored Boy’s Co. record.

The formation of Tiaras proved Hoover had not grown beyond his kinship with Grubbs. His stint in Fine Steps was not Marr joining Electric with Bernard Sumner. It did not rift them from reunion. Nor, was it Chris Wilson letting Flamin’ Groovies fizzle out to later form The Groovin’ Flames. Grubbs speaks of Ganglians as on indefinite hiatus and in need of the original lineup to ever reform. Tiaras is not an extension of Ganglians, but it is the rewrite to their narrative that Still Living was not able to provide. With Tiaras, we can finally retire the knee-jerk Byrds comparisons to invoke the power pop lineage, which is not a fantastic leap for Grubbs-Hoover considering John M. Borack’s signifier of “blissful indifference.”

Borack’s book on power pop was conveniently titled ‘Shake Some Action’ — sharing its name with the Flamin’ Groovies’ fifth album. One listen to the eponymous song tracks the lineage that Tiaras channel throughout its debut and it’s hardly coincidental the bands share the home of San Francisco. (It’s also worth noting “Shake Some Action” was co-written by Chris Wilson and Cyril Jordan of Flamin’ Groovies. Mind-meld!) When Tiaras aren’t locked into the Groovies’ terrain, it bares striking whiffs of Dwight Twilley Band, namely “Looking For The Magic.” Grubbs is unabashedly smitten with a good Twilley inflection. Once again, DTB was engineered by a duo, Twilley and Phil Seymour, though Seymour’s contribution was largely in the rhythm and percussion.

There’s a mirroring by Hoover on Tiaras’ “In The Room,” which much like Ganglians’ “Try To Understand” lives to compliment Grubbs’ falsetto coos. Listen closely though. A trade off exists as Hoover solos and Grubbs responds. It’s an interplay that developed over the course of six years. Much like the Flamin’ Groovies’ first three albums were largely culled from rock standards like “Louie Louie” and Shake Some Action was the breakthrough, Ganglians were of-their-era and Tiaras is the breakthrough; the sound that should leave a lasting impression.

Lawrence, Kansas-based label/music collective Whatever Forever has been releasing Midwestern gems since 2011, and their new cassette EP from Psychic Heat is no exception. The studio versions of the Lighter and Brighter EP take up side A, while side B hosts the live tracks, a concept that fits nicely with Psychic Heat’s slant towards 60s and 70s rock. “Ambience” best showcases the band’s interest in British neo-psych, with its mellow, wandering melodies and idiosyncratic vocals, while another favorite, “Mortal Concept,” could easily outpace Tame Impala, with its heavy guitar and stomping percussion — but Psychic Heat’s take on hip-shaking 70s rock seems more genuine; the dirt and stickiness is still there (as it should be). The energetic live version of “Stargazer” might take the cake though; an upbeat, roll-the-car-windows-down kind of summer jam, its deep, gritty guitar and nicely-fuzzed vocals almost seem influenced more by 90s-era grunge rock than any 60s nostalgia. Check out the track below, and head over to Whatever Forever’s Bandcamp to pick up a copy of the cassette before they’re gone.

The Copenhagen-based Arbitrary imprint is a non-profit venture founded by Mads Emil Nielsen, for publishing books and audio artifacts to be distributed in shops, galleries, and via mail order. Each of the label’s three active releases features involvement in some way by Nielsen himself, whether it be solo material, collaborative efforts or interpretations for his own graphic scores. PM016 is a digital reissue of a cassette that originated in 2014 on Dane Patterson‘s Plant Migration label, which is sadly on indefinite hiatus. The music was conjured from short orchestral and percussive samples, which were then run through a modular synth and some effects — the end result is four extremely intricate sonic collages, pieces of sound art that are immediate and moving. The lengthy passages evolve slowly, as various looping patterns are elicited and augmented by synthetic streams that themselves sprout into self-sustaining ideas. Nielsen has a knack for crafting highly-listenable assemblages through arcane means; he was certainly wise to re-release this ear-grabbing collection of music for those of us who were unable to get it the first time around. The entirety of PM016 is available via SoundCloud, but you can acquire a high-quality download for a nominal fee from Subradar. A short promotional video crafted by Patterson can be found below, for your viewing and listening pleasure.

In the first installment of our From Poland With Love series, we compared two interesting Polish festivals that took place last fall, with the Kraków-based Unsound Festival well recognized and advertised across all sorts of music-related media while the other, Avant Art in Wrocław, remained in relative obscurity. For our second column, we’d like to focus on two important Polish imprints, Wounded Knife and SQRT; both follow different aesthetics, release mostly on different formats, and are driven by different but equally gratifying principles.

Both labels operate in Warsaw’s thriving experimental scene: Wounded Knife release their music on cassette, while SQRT helps uphold the CD-R universe. Despite those differences they are both very active on the internet, keeping consistent and well maintained Facebook profiles, Bandcamp catalogues, etc. In the end, we all know a digital presence is key to radiating beyond a small circle of friends. Jakub Adamek and Mateusz Mondalski talk to the people behind SQRT and Wounded Knife to learn why they launched their labels, what methods they use and how they see the state of modern music.

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Jakub: I decided to focus on SQRT… ultimately what we got were some interesting statements, thought-provoking opinions, and stories of discovery and inspiration. Releases at both labels often began thanks to very unusual sources and connections. Be it psychedelic folk or field recordings, noise rock or ambient, both hubs play their own significant role in pushing the boundaries of music that little bit farther ahead. What did you find out about Wounded Knife, Mateusz?

Mateusz: I met Paulina Oknińska and Janek Ufnal on a Wednesday evening in February at Wrzenie Świata, a cafe/bookshop located in a cosy street right in the heart of Warsaw. The couple’s label Wounded Knife is known in the Polish underground scene for releasing beautifully designed tapes with avant-garde music ranging from ambient through jazz to field recordings. Paulina is a graphic design student at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts so it was natural for her to direct the visual side of the label. Janek, on the other hand, is in charge of the production process and you may say he does A&R for the label but it’s a very intimate enterprise so they share duties spontaneously and they decide about new releases together — simply by putting out what they like and deem worthwhile. They sell the cassettes usually in a volume of fifty copies (sometimes seventy five) that disappear very fast, then they publish the music online and give it away for free via Bandcamp.

I met them at the beginning of a new chapter as Janek and Paulina recently decided to experiment with the CD format through a series of split releases. They boast a catalogue of exactly twenty tapes and figured out it would be refreshing to try something new. The couple just released two split releases with four artists but in the long term they plan on exhibiting input from at least a dozen projects. These involve people like Günter Schlienz, founder of the tape label Cosmic Winnetou, who recorded a cover of Spacemen 3, the far-out British alt-rock band from the eighties. Paulina confirms that the focus will be on covers but Janek also mentions that Francesco de Gallo aka Hobo Cubes took a different approach and recorded an original track inspired by the works of famous New York jazz scene sax player Joe McPhee.

Most authors come from abroad but the local scene will be also represented by releases from people such as Robert Skrzyński aka Micromelancolié, a Polish electroacoustic artist and Fischerle, a Warsaw-based experimental musician and head of the Pawlacz Perski record label already described in some blog posts at Decoder. Paulina and Janek disclose that the covers will even include tracks by HIM and Enrique Iglesias so the range of inspirations on the splits is bound to be intriguing. Janek discloses: “In the long term we plan to publish our first ever vinyl release. This is costly so the CD splits will serve as a cheap way to maintain output as we accumulate funds for the wax premiere.” Paulina adds: “We always released tapes in the volume of fifty copies and now the vinyl will be published in the amount of 250 copies so this is another aspect of the shift which makes it a challenge for us.” The label’s future depends on the success of their first vinyl but Janek and Paulina suggest that they’ll be transforming Wounded Knife into a label curating a blend of wax and tape releases. They also observe that Poles tend to buy Polish music whereas foreigners purchase tapes by artists from different countries. Paulina: “I really don’t get it. Sometimes we publish very interesting artists but I have the impression that some of our listeners won’t take the time to explore these new names and I’m sure they’d love them. So yes, it’s a pity but that’s the way it is. I also notice this in year-end lists where sometimes our label pops up but usually strictly through the Polish artists we release.” Janek comments: “I also feel this fanatic attitude towards local music in Poland which has its drawbacks but on the other hand it also helps to keep the scene so vivid and prolific.” Still, what he enjoys most is the idea of sending music to listeners as far from Warsaw as possible. To me Janek’s approach resembles the romantic concept of a message in a bottle which shows how idealistic they are in sharing their somewhat niche music but on a global scale.

Jakub: Did you talk about the current state of the local scene in Poland?

Mateusz: At some point I asked them about their view on the vibe of the music scene in Warsaw and how labels interact with each other. I was curious to find out whether they have the impression that actors in the industry compete or support each other. Janek: “Oh, absolutely. We get a lot of support from other label owners especially as they amount to around 80% of our customers. To some extent we release tapes also to exchange them with friends who curate their other labels. We often make a joint order for tapes from abroad to pay less for shipping so yes, we definitely keep in touch with other publishers.” Paulina also points out that from time to time they enjoy putting on shows for their favorite artists who aren’t necessarily affiliated with Wounded Knife. Having said that, the couple doesn’t plan on organizing typical showcase events which they find rather boring. The couple told me an amazing story about Paul Skomsvold aka Former Selves, a Californian artist currently based in Spain. He has already released around twenty albums and is a key figure in the small international tape society. Paulina and Janek had observed his career for a long time and always felt he would fit well on Wounded Knife but their ways never crossed. To their delight, at some point Paul reached out to them and offered this of his own accord. It turned out he had played a gig in the US with Lake Mary, a folk/drone artist from Salt Lake City whose tape Komerabi was released on Wounded Knife in 2013. Paul loved it and that’s how he discovered the label. Janek and Paulina just released Former Selves’ latest LP Three Wells and two weeks ago he performed at Warsaw’s Eufemia, a boho DIY club located in a basement underneath the Academy of Fine Arts.

Jakub: Unlike Wounded Knife, which seems to some extent like a coincidental child of the new cassette era, fueled by the influx of drone and experimental artists, SQRT is an older, even more obscure label. Founded in 2004 in Warsaw by Łukasz Ciszak, a guitarist and electroacoustic improvisation explorer, the label relies on small-run digital and CD-R releases, mostly opting for the modest 3” CD-R format. The scope of SQRT’s interest is also much more niche, sometimes ostracized even by far-out sound explorers: it includes EAI (electroacoustic improvisation), field recordings, minimal drone and the like. Ciszak explained that he started out with the label because there was apparently no venue for this sort of music: “there was not much happening in Poland at the time — except for XVP (which I discovered after a year of running my own label), and labels like Monotype or Lado ABC were just getting started. There was no place for my albums to be released.” The artist was encouraged to run SQRT by a friend and photographer Sebastien Chou — whose photos appear on some of the label’s artworks, including the Proceedings compilation. Having released a few CDs of his own, later on Ciszak started putting out music by other people.

Mateusz: I know there can sometimes be tension between the aficionados of different formats. Did Łukasz tell you about his view on the tape music renaissance?

Jakub: Unlike Wounded Knife and other small labels, SQRT isn’t that enthusiastic about the cassette revival — although he himself has released a split cassette with guitarist Artur Rumiński on Wounded Knife. When Ciszak started out, tapes were turning obsolete: “It was a moment when cassettes were pretty much unavailable and everyone thought they would never come back. But when they returned, I decided to be consistent [in releasing CD-Rs] not to join the fad.” That’s not all: according to Ciszak, much of the tape cult is little more than smoke and mirrors: “I have a feeling that while no one admits it, people listen to cassettes mostly via streams or just use the download codes that come with them.” He also suggests that CDs are simply easier to handle and he prefers their quality over tape hiss: when it comes to usage comfort (just to name the need to flip the tape) I definitely prefer CDs.”

As many of the latest releases on SQRT are issued on 3” CD-R, most new albums on the label (or should they be named EPs at this point) can only contain 20 minutes of music. Both the small physical size and the limited amount of time force each SQRT release to become a little self-contained conceptual gem, with simple cover photographs that portray details of city landscapes or explore contrasts between urban and rural scenes… thus the sounds on each CD-R become transmissions from various divisions of the avant-guerilla. Many of them are also informed by field recordings and found sounds.

For example, Krzysztof Topolski’s Presence is a sonic documentary of different wild spots around the South East of Poland, weaving a thick sonic tapestry unspoiled by human activity. Katowice, on the other hand, explores processed field recordings of a major urban and industrial center augmented with deep drones and raw synthesizer pulsations. Ciszak admits that all of his releases convey a central theme and that the City has also become the essential idea of some projects, often inspired by unusual events: “There were indeed two “urban” projects – the one on Katowice and Warsaw. The concept to set the albums “in the city” has a double beginning – first it started with field recordings by Piotr Zakrocki that appeared on 2002′s Warszawa – ścieżkadźwiękowa (“Warsaw – the soundtrack”) wherein he recorded Warsaw’s central railway station. Secondly, the concept of using the city as an instrument (or rather a source for sampling) was inspired by the works of Mazen Kerbaj, who composed a song with a trumpet and a recording of the Israeli shelling of Lebanon.”

SQRT aren’t limited to the sonic secretions of the city or the wilderness of cold, harsh caveman-tronics only. Apart from playing solo, Ciszak is also the guitarist of HUN, a Warsaw-based free improv noise rock trio (together with Tomasz Juchniewicz on bass guitar and Grzegorz Zawadzki on drums) that attempts to fill a missing link between DNA and Stefan Jaworzyn’s horrific Ascension, recently exemplified on Die Verschnitte — an 18-minute long, rusted, barely-glued-together jam of doom. Void1 follow a similar path, although their vision of improvisation is filtered through LSD-stained goggles, shimmering with distant echoes and slowly unfolding post-rock textures with a Japanese psych afterglow. Vexations by Bionulor bears the description “100% sound recycling” — because if we strive to recycle every material and make it reusable, why not perform the same with music? Bionulor’s Sebastian Banaszczyk took snippets of music he recorded from January to September 2014 and decided to cut, mix, and reuse them in new forms presented on the album.

Mateusz: As you mention recycling I recollect a fine tape on Wounded Knife by Warsaw-based artist Radosław Sirko aka Duy Gebord who alludes through his alias to the great French philosopher and writer Guy Debord, a forefather of the Situationist movement. Duy Gebord has recontextualized the Polish composer Witold Lutosławski as well as the Austrian Franz Schubert and he’s released original music on key Polish DIY labels such as BDTA and Pawlacz Perski. His cassette Mangrove on Wounded Knife encapsulated a whirlpool of guitar and percussion which arrived in a fierce labyrinth of contrasting sounds. The artist is very apt at mixing different textures as a sound engineer and cultural studies’ academic. I’m sure you’ll agree Mangrove is a compelling and very emotive piece of music.

Jakub: Of course, Wounded Knife and SQRT represent just a small piece of the bubbling Polish underground with plethora more labels and projects popping up on a nearly daily basis. It also shows the love for the DIY aesthetic, which is still well alive and getting better with more and more creative people joining forces in the experimental scene. These labels exemplify global thinking, connecting musicians from different backgrounds into a mish-mash of boundary-pushing sounds through a series of chance encounters that might not have happened without the courage of people like Janek, Paulina and Łukasz — all over the world.

Originally released in 2011, Lawrence English’s The Peregrine saw the Brisbane, Australia-based producer and Room40 owner poised at the precipice of a long and hallowed discography, including revered works of processed sound on Touch, Line, Immune, Autumn, Baskaru, and his own Room40, among others. The LP aurally interpreted the harrowing, naturalistic narrative of J.A. Baker‘s “The Peregrine,” originally published in 1967, into a sprawling tonal document that transcended English’s general work, and the larger drone and ambient world overall. As Room40 now re-issues the long sold-out LP, we decided to look back at an email exchange below, which originally appeared in Foxy Digitalis in the leadup to The Peregrine‘s original release on experimedia.

When did you first experience Baker’s writings and ‘The Peregrine’ novel itself?
I first encountered Baker’s writing when I was visiting with David Toop a few years ago. The Peregrine had found its way across David’s radar and was sitting on his desk. I picked it up, opened to a random page about the motion and soundlessness of an owl on the hunt and was utterly captured by his ability to suggest sound through language. I ordered the book later that week and since then have revisited it a great many times.

When did you realize you wanted to create sounds influenced by the writing?
I’m not really sure. This project has been incredibly organic. I read The Hill of Summer about a year after The Peregrine and it was about that time I started to really think about the ways Baker’s writing suggest possible sound shapes and textures. He has such a natural and evocative sense of sound and that really started to play on my mind.

What was most interesting was the speed at which the project took shape once I started working on it. The book lent itself some easily to composition, drawing on the motions, colours, landscape descriptions and the nature of the hunt for the bird as a kind of ecological drama.

Are the pieces more dealing with the peregrine species or with Baker’s experience?
I’m not sure it’s dealing with either actually. Inherently, both the bird (which I have had the pleasure to see both wild and fly a few months ago) and Baker’s experiences are central to the project, but it’s almost as if those elements are orbited around, rather than being fixated upon. The record in some sense uses all the elements around the bird (which Baker describes in detail) to etch out the sound space. The book itself formed a kind of compositional format, taking the seven months over which it is written and building pieces that explore something from within that particular period of the book.

The album’s artwork contains a peregrine perched on empty bars of music, which is wholly evocative of the music focusing on the hawk’s existence. How involved were you with the cover illustration and concept?
Actually I commissioned that painting by Eugene Carchesio. He’s an incredible artist, working across many different areas and a good friend. I actually gave him the book to read first and said if he was interested to please make the cover based on the experience of the book. He actually hasn’t heard the record as yet as recently he’s moved outside of the city and we’re yet to catch up! I think he utterly nailed it with that cover – it’s such an elegant image, just breathtaking.

Did you rely solely on inspiration from the writing? Did you do much research into the species or Baker himself when composing the material?
I have to confess I already have an interest in ornithology. One of my first sound experiences was with my father birdwatching….trying to seek out Reed Warbler’s by ear, rather than eye. I’ve seen a number of Peregrines in my life and they have left a lasting impression, that’s for sure. The most recent was stopping at a massive coal export harbour called Hay Point. That was earlier this year as the record was talking shape. An omen perhaps.

Is tracking by ear a normal means of birdwatching? Does the practice greatly change the experience?
I think for some species it is probably a good way of tracking them, but I’d dare say it’s not the most common form of bird watching. The art of bird calls is something that’s been used widely throughout the ages as a means of attracting (and in some cases) hunting birds. I must say I use that technique a lot for field work – just today I hear a squirrel calling here in London that I have never heard before – it was quite something – mournfully captivating.

The song titles are the most “defined” aspects of the release. Do the dates/scenes refer to pivotal moments in the book, or moments you felt were the most vibrant? Did the titles come before or after the pieces were produced?
The titles do draw directly from the book. I wanted to suggest a kind of journey through the book and it felt right to seek out moments in each month that captured a particular sentiment or quality. The titles somehow try to realise something that the book brought to me. Frost’s Bitter Grip for example was one of the passages I found utterly profound in The Peregrine. His discovery of the still living, but frozen heron in the grasses, and then his undertaking of the mercy killing really struck me. His description was just so powerful and ultimately poetic. It sends shivers up my spine just thinking about it. I think the general state of misanthropy and also his awareness of human’s need to sugar coat the nature of the living world is something that resonates with me. There’s a passage in The Hill Of Summer where he talks about how if we could see the brutality of the living world we’d be so overcome, so we choose to blind ourselves to that… as if we’re putting a filter over our mind.

Was it a conscious effort to leave out spoken word or passages from the story? It’s a route that other artists like Max Richter and Jóhann Jóhannsson have taken when reinterpreting text.
To me, this record is in many ways an homage. I think including text might have complicated the nature of the sounds. I believe strongly that once a human voice, especially one using words, is introduced into music the ears starts to listen differently. It seeks out the voice and focuses on it. I wanted to avoid that – in some respected I wanted to reflect Baker’s ability to paint a huge sense of space with words – I was hoping I could do the same through sound.

Does the same go for field recordings from the bird’s habitat?
Yeah, I wanted to stay away from concrete sounds on this record and keep the elements more evocative and ethereal than actual.

Did you feel influenced by any other mixed-source projects? Maybe other music based on writing, film, paintings, etc.
I think most art in our age reflects, no matter how distantly, on other ideas, themes, influences etc. The trick is to synthesize those influences to create an original vision drawing on those root materials. At present I’m actually working on a number of pieces that directly link into this idea. In 2012 I’ll be presented One11 (refocused) which is a homage to John Cage’s only film work. It’s the 20th anniversary of the film next year and of course Cage’s 100th. I’ll be making that work with Scott Morrison. Myself and Grouper are also working on a project ‘Slow Walkers’ which is based on the vision of the Zombie as cultural phenomena. It’ll be a series of video installations and a LP/live av concert.

[Note: this interview was conducted before the Slow Walkers LP was issued via Peak Oil.]

The theme of the undead certainly seems to be a timeless one. Will the material for the project with Grouper be celebratory of the phenomena? Do you have an idea of what the audio/video components with be? I can see the material be haunting, to say the least.
I think the way that Romero approaches the Zombie is really powerful. I mean he uses it as such a good metaphor for the way many of us experience and exist in life. His recent films really play into that political overtone. I think for me, some of the interest also stems from the Haitian stories that surround the mythology of the zombie – the tales of people becoming zombies and enslaved almost…made to work at something they otherwise wouldn’t. That whole history is really fascinating and powerful, tapping into the spirituality of that part of the world.

As for the project it’s in two parts – a series of video installations and a recorded LP (which will also be the foundation for live concerts). I’m very excited to see the project coming to fruition. Working with Grouper has been a real pleasure…she has an amazing and powerful approach to her work.

You mentioned via Room40′s twitter that you’re working on a live set-up of The Peregrine with Simon Scott. Can you give any details about differences in a live version and where the pieces might be performed?
Oh actually Simon is kindly arranging a concert for me I Cambridge. Before that I’ll be working up live variations of the pieces at Worm studios in Rotterdam.

What instruments will you be using for the live variations? Will there be a video accompaniment?
Yeah there is a video…instrument wise, I think that will vary depending on where I am in the world and what the weight restrictions for luggage are.

What does your writing process look like? There is an image on your site with the caption “Note Take Whilst Site Listening,” yet you also mention that you didn’t have the chance to spend much time in East Anglia where the book is set. Did this affect your normal recording process or the scope of the project?
In some respects it’s an advantage not to have spent my time there. In many ways what I wanted to create was a reflected or mediated impression of the book and its landscape. So in some ways it’s a process of separation for the real –in terms of time (I am sure the East Anglia of today is a different place to the late 60s) and also in terms of using Baker’s rendering of the place as the primary point of reference. I’m seeking to make an impression of the book, which is an impression of Baker’s experiences in the region many years ago. It’s a mimetic project you could say.

In terms of the writing processes, for me much of the work is process driven, taking the initial elements of the composition and the transforming them again and again. It’s impressionistic I guess you could say.

The album was “assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.” Did the Council have any effect on the finished work? Have you dealt with the organization for prior projects?
Not at all. The acknowledgment is actually a result of my being awarded a project fellowship at the end of 2010 from Ozco. It allowed me time to work at a range of projects including this one. We’re lucky to have the support of agencies such as this in Australia.

Why did you choose to release the material through Experimedia label and not room40?
To be honest, I try not to release many projects of my own through room40. The label is very much focused on supporting artists I feel strongly about, and whom I want to support. There’s only so many slots we can release editions through each year, so if I take one of those with a release, it means someone misses out and I’d prefer not to see that happen.

I also love working with other labels. Jeremy at Experimedia is a real music lover and is cultivating a wonderful label there. It’s just a pleasure to be working with him on this project.

The original pressing by Experimedia is long sold out, but room40 will release the reissued edition on CD/Digi (3/31) and LP (4/14).

Mies van der Rohe once said “less is more,” (it was Robert Browning actually, but that’s not the point) and director Olga Ozierańska has taken that prescription to heart with her mesmerizing video for “V2.06” by We Will Fail, the music moniker of Warsaw based graphic designer Aleksandra Grünholz (check out her Behance portfolio). Told with great subtlety, it’s a story of fascination and mystery set in a timeless space filled with potted plants, modernist furniture, old museum specimen and other ephemera. The main characters conducts a series of surrealist acts and pseudo-scientific experiments lifted straight from Codex Seraphinianus; stabbing an ink spot with a pencil, studying an inverted globe, marveling at plants submersed in what appears to be liquid nitrogen, and so on. The central object of the video is a mysterious chemical substance, the effects of which are never revealed — but which must be powerful, as hinted by the violent dimming of the lights. Is it a chemical weapon? Is it a powerful drug? Maybe a cure for a disease or the elixir of youth? The answer is up to each watcher, and the atmospheric, slowly paced ambience of We Will Fail only deepens the mystery. Verstörung 2.0 is out now on Monotype Records.

What? Are you kidding me? How do these tapes exist? How have I lived twenty-some whole years of worthless life without this release? How did the universe hold together without these cassettes to imbue each atom with immutable significance? Fuck me, I love this so much I want to cry, rip off all my clothes, and run screaming into the jungle, never to return. Ted Coffey’s side of tape two has me jumping for joy at every second, and I was surprised to discover that he’s in the Music Department faculty at the University of Virginia. I’ve heard pretty amazing music coming out of the academic “electroacoustic” circles, but until now nothing quite so bold, vibrant, and just absolutely monumental. His contribution, titled “Pockets & Holes,” is just that — a collage of open spaces where linear structure seems to briefly congeal, only to blur and buzz into the next incongruous moments. There’s screeching, popping, buzzing, even acoustic guitar plucking, but it refuses to make sense, and it crystallizes the chaos of my dull commuting days more than any so-called “song” I’ve heard before.

Okay, to hell with it, I quit. Now don’t you fret, I’ll still be writing for Decoder — that opener was just for cloying, melodramatic effect. I’ve often come back to the idea that a piece of music, when good enough, should and often does defy any attempt to describe it through some logical sequence of symbols. Nowhere has this maxim appeared more true than these two cassettes of utterly baffling, incessantly chaotic beauty. Ted Coffey’s side isn’t even the first, it’s just my favorite; hatianfieldrecorders’ epic “OCELOT” spurts synthetic bleeps and bloops in a compelling narrative that would hardly sound out of place on a tape by Headboggle. :naem’s “DEN (ONLY) mixtape” inhabits a fascinating borderland between noisy plunderphonics, sample-laden dub-hop, and minimal ambient washes. Finally, droneclone’s side is, by comparison, the most conventional, with lurid synth patterns accompanying creepy subterranean drum machine loops. If anyone has had the good fortune to experience the vivid dreams that often result from Valerian root sleep aids, this is the soundtrack to those dreams you wish would go on forever.

Rarely does one come across such sheer jaw-dropping amazeballs holy-shit-is-this-even-real experiences with an impetus to say something about it, and a complete inability to do so. Similar experiences for me include swinging on a swingset atop the hills of Berkeley while watching the majestic sunset over the San Francisco Bay, or devouring a 1lb. burger with a patty of 60% brisket on a rosemary potato brioche bun. Hopefully you shouldn’t have to think too far back to find something similar in your own experiences. If nothing in your life has achieved these levels of pure incendiary passion, go get these tapes or, I dunno, kill yourself or something. (Is life without these tapes worth living? The jury’s still out.)

It’s a shame Looking at The Triangles, The Variable Why’s debut release, is sneaking by everyone’s radar, trailing just out of the collective peripheral when it should be front and center. Following the brief and modest appearance of “I Could Have Killed You And No One Would Have Known” in last year’s PSSV​.​6 (pm) comp on Patient Sounds Intl., The project now brings a bold and moving set of four emotionally wrought guitar movements that lumber through their lamentful gestures with both grandiosity and subtlety. “Hazy Mystery” simmers in a cavernous chorus of echoing guitars. Chords shimmer like mist in shadowy sunlight, playing up the naturalistic beauty of each tone layering and resonating with eachother. The slow cycle is spiritually akin to Music For Airports, focusing on situational beauty and profound, uneventful bliss. “I Can Barely See You” wallows in a frostbitten crawl of droning guitar, and you almost forget this is a one-man band. On the flipside, “Memory Burn” slows things down to a glacial pace, smearing its glittery drift and magnifying each shift in color. The closing, title track is a post-Americana raga steeped in beautiful dread and decay, haunting the scene with vast bleakness and dusty hope. Pick up a copy of Looking at The Triangles directly from Patient Sounds’ site.

I posted to Decoder about how Stave absolutely killed it when I saw him opening for Demdike Stare in 2013. His first release Reform was on Chicago’s Flingco Sound System, followed by a 12-inch called Trust on Trensmat, both in 2013. Now Berlin’s Repitch Recordings is putting out the newest Stave EP, After The Social, and it continues to hone the Stave sound for the hard-edged industrial-techno dancefloor. This one has a remix by none other than Regis (of Downwards infamy), which has such a sinister bassline spiraling down through its blistering beats. “Circle Pit” is even more swarming and furious, and “Paid Jazz” has shuddering beats and doom-y synths. The entire EP is streamable below, and can be purchased at Bandcamp.

Japanese experimental artist Hiiragi Fukuda returns with his third stateside issue, as Trouble in Mind Records reissues the guitarist-synthesist’s 2014 Seacide on LP and CD (originally issued on cassette by Sloow Tapes). It would be shortsighted to call Fukuda’s rhythms minimal, as that word only describes his recording set up for this release. With one synthesizer, one guitar, delay pedal, and microphone, the artist weaves patterns that bleed beyond repetition into open, breathtaking ceremonies. In the streaming embed below, you will find that Fukuda is a patient player, to say the least, as he works with limited note sequences as long as physically necessary for the next narrative set. Harmonic feedback might be that story, or a shift in pitch or slight lead line. If the listener follows the standard story that original krautrock artists sought a form of music that transcended traditional influences and rhythms, Fukuda reduces that line to its most orthodox interpretation, thereby opening its grand potential: this is music that speaks truly through its bare elements, shedding unnecessary move or obstruction. Seacideis available from Trouble in Mind Records on March 31.

It’s been nearly three months since we last heard from Aught, the anonymous heroes based from who knows where, with Xth Réflexion’s dizzying /​\​\​05, a dissonant and cavernous set minimal techno that we cherished dearly and of which we couldn’t get enough. Thankfully, the label now returns with a second stab of Xth Réflexion’s muted modulations and chemtrail-like melodics. The conspiratorial transmissions pick up at “05″ (where the previous cassette ended with “04″), dropping you right in the center of a flurry of dimly lighted, sequenced gurgles. It’s a bizarre palette cleanser that sounds like a Möbius strip of high-industrial techno. “06″ and “07″ are all about atmosphere, culling a seemingly random assortment of metallic feedback and minimal rhythms into a wall of pummeling austerity. “08″ takes a slightly different turn, drifting in a sonic careen of electronic neo-noir and teeing up the proto-Chris & Cosey clatter of “09.” Closer “10″ hosts a surprising amount of beauty and color, albeit buried under of glitching static, distant noise and negative space. With it’s sixth release, Aught somehow heightens their even game and opens up new sonic territories, surpassing expectation once again. As with each of the label’s cassettes, this one’s bound to sell out very soon, so head over to Aught’s Bandcamp for a copy now.

Following last year’s stunning A 480 cassette on Constellation Tatsu, Kara-Lis Coverdale now returns with a bold and moving work of modern classical miniatures inflected with electronic elegance. The Montreal native and occasional collaborator of celebrated titans of textured drone music (Tim Hecker, LXV) makes massive but reserved work that points to a number of different genres and eras, synthesizing the various traits into a singular and profound set of nine tracks, otherwise known as Aftertouches. Opener “Imgs -r” comes in like Ekkehard Ehlers’ 2001 loop classic “Plays John Cassavetes,” ushering in a chorus of aural apparitions who each settle into their chairs, assuming a symphony line of processed instruments. As the uplifting but lamentful score ensues, Coverdale pulls and prods each sound, examining the whole piece note by note. “Touch me & die” plays out its airy and agile run of lilting epiphanies like Max Richter remixing a Steve Reich piece, with eager notes soaring over distantly shifting chords. This vibe is explored even further on “X 4Ewi,” which opens up the orchestral narrative with a modest but potent chorus line of celestial singers, an avenue fully embraced on the vocal-obsessed movements of “Icon-c.” Each track reveals deeper and deeper layers of the composer’s brilliance. Coverdale is bound to be a big name in the field. Aftertouches is living proof, and a true masterwork from a still-young artist. Pick up a copy directly via Sacred Phrases.

Catching up with last week’s slightly delayed FFFoxy Podcast… “On this episode of the FFFoxy Podcast, we started off the show with a premiere excerpt from the Philadelphia-based duo Good Area’s forthcoming LP called Macbeth. This release, following solid efforts out on the reputable Kye and Hanson labels, is due out later in the year on Vitrine, the private imprint started in 2013 by Good Area members Allen Mozek and Gabi Losoncy. Vitrine has been slowly issuing works from other like-minded artists dealing in primitive electronics, tape manipulation, sound poetry, and noise. On this episode, we be spoke with Allen about the work that he’s doing with Vitrine, along with the sound work that he is doing under the name No Intention and with Good Area. You will also hear several selections from the Vitrine catalog throughout, including some other new and forthcoming releases and a few other Philadelphia-related artists that Allen provided. If you are interested in checking out further sound clips, you can head over to the Vitrine YouTube page. If you’d like to purchase any Vitrine titles, we’d encourage you to check out the following mail order sites: Alberts Basement (AU), Art Into Life (JP), Crisis of Taste, Fusetron, Hanson, Infinite Limits (UK), Little Big Chief, Mimaroglu, Swill Radio, and Tordan Ljud (EU). Hope you enjoy this episode. Feel free to get in touch if you have any questions or comments.”

Find out more about submitting material to the FFFoxy Podcast at David’s website, Free Form Freakout.

•••

#1 – 3.15.2015 – Baskaru released Frank Rothkamm‘s remarkable Wiener Process, a 24 CD set lasting exactly 24 hours that was originally conceived by the artist and philosopher as a possible cure for tinnitus. Failing in that aim, Rothkamm realized his monumental creation had in fact evolved to reflect, in his own words, “the scientific method of psychostochastics”; in layman’s terms, music minus time. “Once Wiener Process is set in motion within the listener, [it] will go on until the listener dies,” Rothkamm posits. There are only 24 boxes available, so act quick if you want one. -SD

#2 – 3.16.2015 – XLR8R reported that Leaving Records would shortly inaugurate a new age release series titled Mindflight, noting that “forthcoming releases appear set to include solo productions alongside a number of collaborative efforts, with the likes of Jimmy Tamborello (a.k.a. Dntel), LA artist/musician Mitchell Brown, and cosmic soundscaper Diva Dompe, and Stones Throw affiliate Mndsgn having added their talents to a handful of efforts.” Though the announcement didn’t mention the new cassette, it’s probably safe to assume that the series began with the release of Diva’s Vibration Fruitsguided meditation cassette last week. Follow Leaving on Facebook for updates. -DP

#3 – 3.17.2015 – The Guardian ran coverage from The Calvert Journal’s Alexandra Vorobiova exploring the range of electronic music issuing haphazardly but more or less independently from the remoteness of Siberia, with a focus on Stanislav Sharifullin, aka the producer Hmot, and proprietor of his own exquisite tape label Klammklang. Incidentally one of the better bits of recent reportage on the international tape scene, Vorobiova also observes that the lion’s share of Klammklang releases end up in foreign collections. Read the entire article here and check out Klammklang on Bandcamp. -DP

#4 – 3.17.2015 – Ad Hoc premiered a new video from videomaker Sara Drake for precocious Chicago synth drifter Quicksails, accompanying the song “Daily Drift” off of his Spillage cassette for Tranquility Tapes — which is still available to buy digitally via Bandcamp. Check out the video below or click through to Ad Hoc for the full scoop. -DP

#5 – 3.17.2015 – UK poet John Cooper Clarke announced his first tour of the US and Canada for over 35 years. The punk icon, who was recently the subject of a BBC documentary, will start his trip in Las Vegas at the end of next month and finish up a couple of weeks later in Toronto. Full details are available here. -SD

#6 – 3.17.2015 – Cam Curran issued his second release as Cambo, following his dazzling debut on Further a couple years back. This time around, the Brooklyn resident and “co-conspirator” behind Styles Upon Styles returns with six hip hop and techno skewers that are dark and dreamlike, although not at all nightmarish. Incorporating strains of Nightmares on Wax, Madlib and other elusive beat-icians rubbing shoulders with the gritted techno or IDM worlds while maintaining steadfast ear for mangled rhythms, Patronage & Pork is disfigured in just the right places. Sample the tape below and pick up a copy before they’re gone directly from the label. -BP

#7 – 3.18.2015 – Craig Leon composed an alphabet for Electronic Beats’ brain-scouring, recurring feature in which artists riff off something like the first thing they think about in relation to each letter; in this case particularly interesting for the anecdotes Leon drops about Sire, though honestly I’d prefer a more probing feature if it turned out more album recommendations from this dude. Read that at Electronic Beats. -DP

#8 – 3.18.2015 – Ghostly International announced a new addition to their store: an amazing print from artist Brandon Locher (who has also contributed to their ongoing wallpaper series.) The new print, Mazes to the Motherlode XL, is quite the beauty to behold — gander it below and once you’re properly hypnotized, head over to the Ghostly shop to pick up a 20″ x 20″ print. -LP

#9 – 3.18.2015 – On Thursday we posted about Manufactured Recordings’ incredible Norton batch, but didn’t mention the label already has more than a dozen additional upcoming releases, including recognizable titles like DJ Quik’s Quik is the Name and obscure 7″s (the label’s other forte) like the “I Was There At The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” 7″ from a mostly ungoogleable 80s New York punk band. Since founding Manufactured as well as the label’s Sinderlyn imprint, Captured Tracks & Co. seems well prepared as a spiritual and geographical complement to a more bombastic west coast imprint like LA’s Burger. Hop onto Facebook and follow Manufactured for updates on their dozen+ impending reissue gems, and I gather much much more to come. -DP

#10 – 3.18.2015 – The Wire let loose a bonus track from the Japanese version of Lightning Bolt’s new Fantasy Empire album. The 8-minute stream of “Where Are Your Kids?” precedes the album’s March 23 release, a July ATP Iceland show and a month-long tour of the US for the ear-wrecking duo. -SD

#11 – 3.19.2015 – After sixteen years of operations, Insound announced plans to close up shop by the end of the month. The online music retailer was at the forefront of independent internet music sales and helped ushered in the careers of bands like Les Savy Fav, Low, and the Album Leaf (among others) with its sister label Tiger Style. R.I.P. -BP

#12 – 3.20.2015 – Field Hymns is all set for more new tapes at the start of next month. The label’s second set of the year will see Eirik Suhrke‘s Brainchai split sides with Aaron Munson’s Ilkae for Athena and the welcome return of David Suss’s Millions project on Line in the Sky. Grab them from April 1. -SD

]]>0Nicholas Zettelhttp://www.secretdecoder.net/?p=241482015-03-20T15:17:34Z2015-03-20T15:17:34Z
Did you ever notice that garage rock is cleaning up its act more and more and more and more? Well, if the likes of bright sunshiney west coast glee whet your appetite for scuz, you ought to head east for some S-K-U-Z-Z. After beginning their tape with a spot-on Cheap Trick cover, ÄSS jump into the gutter for the remainder of Live in New Jersey. Come for the Cheap Trick, stay for the ELO. Somehow, the lightning rhythms keep this thing going, as microphonic feedback, scowling vocals, colorful phasers, and wide-open guitars blow through a bargain basement of punk rock tricks with siiiiiiiiick riffs!!! Recommended for the next time your wife requests some romantic music, or you accidentally run into the knife block while scratching your back during a midnight snack. This must be what cheating sounds like, but thankfully, this tape will be much, much cheaper than a divorce lawyer, and it’s also shorter than a drive through New Jersey (I assume this tape is an accurate representation). This is the most blown out version of some Dumpster Tapes glam, or the logical extreme of Purling Hiss. ÄSS are to Thee Oh Sees as Velvet Underground are to Jefferson Airplane, but you can see for yourself from Ba Da Bing! Records. More please!

Happenin Records released a new album from Austin-based band The Zoltars last month. The “nerd-psych” quartet has been playing together since 2009, and have honed their 60s influenced rock into perfectly-balanced, upbeat excursions with crisp percussion, soothing vocal harmonies, and one catchy hook after another. Made by Jared Leibowich, the new music video for their track “Out of My Head” features shaky first-person camera footage and various travel scenes paired with nostalgic-yet-relatable lyrics (“I really like when I’m out of my head / I don’t even care if I wind up dead”) that are reminiscent of The Troggs at their best. Head over to Happenin to grab their 12-inch before it’s gone, and if you’re lucky, you can catch them at one of their upcoming shows: